I had the pleasure of interviewing Andra Sandru, who is the COO of Krea Group Limited. Andra was the creative director and founder of Acurrator, a minimalist RTW brand. Due to her past experience as a product developer for high street brands, she gained great contacts within the manufacturing and sourcing sphere.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! What is your “backstory”?
I started my first company at 21, when I was working with lifestyle brands in Europe. I went on to own a coffee shop, before moving back into fashion and consumer goods in 2015. I was always an “entrepreneur”, and never had a 9-to-5 (I’m 31 years old…so far — so good). Read “entrepreneur” not as “unemployed” — more like “ working 12 hour days, so I don’t have to work 8h day for someone else.”
Why did you found your company?
The company morphed from the manufacturing of private labels, to my own label, to the current joint venture of Acurrator and Lou Black, which lead to Krea Group earlier this year. I never had a 9-’til-5, and always had an entrepreneurial mind-set. My trigger was always the freedom to pull levers within a business to find creative and less-than-creative ways of making it work.
What is it about the work you’re doing that’s disruptive?
We’re starting small but thinking big (original right?). We straddle the line between creative and core consumer-goods’ business. I don’t think we’re doing anything proprietary (at the moment), and sometimes it’s hard to see “the better mouse trap” when it comes to fashion, nevertheless our USP is what makes us a “desirable” company/business.
We’re not putting all of our eggs in one basket, so we’re working on brand awareness, great partnerships, wholesale and e-commerce B2C, and have the manufacturing and logistics to back it. The agenda is pretty full, with small projects that will hopefully bring us closer to our goal.
We all need a little help along the journey — who have been some of your mentors?
I read a lot of self-development, business, EQ books. Actually, me and my life partner have been working on a book in the past two years. It’s called the “6 day business”, and it’s a business plan draft if you will, with call-to-action chapters, to help self starters test their idea, before taking it to market. It’s meant for both product based businesses and services.
I’ve also drawn a lot of inspiration from books such as:
- “Start with WHY” -Simon Sinek
- “The mom test” -Rob Fitzpatrick
- “Hitch 22” -Christopher Hitchens
- “A job to love” — School of Life
- “Let my people go surfing” — Yvon Chouinard (the founder of Patagonia)
Can you share 3 of the best words of advice you’ve gotten along your journey?
- Work ethics filter out a lot of people you shouldn’t work with, so if you lose an opportunity, it might be better for the long term. There’s an endless stream of opportunities, it doesn’t run out.
- I don’t believe in aggressive networking, and always being in “pitch mode” — don’t be that person, just be a good human to be around.
- Do your due-diligence! [there’s a lot about this in the book I wrote 🙂 ] A “good idea” might turn into a stupid idea with just a few hours of proper research. Curiosity is great. Strike up conversations, and be inquisitive. Develop a genuine interest for what people do, for different industries, and for different set of skills.
What’s a book/podcast/talk that’s had a deep impact on your thinking?
I read a lot of self-development, business, EQ books. Actually, my life partner and I have been working on a book in the past two years.
It’s called the “6 day business,” and it’s a business plan draft if you will, with call-to-action chapters, to help self starters test their idea, before taking it to market. It’s meant for both product based businesses and services.
I’ve also drawn a lot of inspiration from books such as:
- “Start with WHY” -Simon Sinek
- “The mom test” -Rob Fitzpatrick
- “Hitch 22” -Christopher Hitchens
- “A job to love” — School of Life
- “Let my people go surfing” — Yvon Chouinard (the founder of Patagonia)
Some of the biggest names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might see this. 🙂
I listen to a podcast called “The Knowledge Project” hosted by Shane Parrish, from Farnam Street. In each episode is interviews founders, and disturbers in design, tech, education, finance, politics. After each episode, I’m left with questions I would like to ask the guests over a cup 🙂 So I would say Shane, or any of the people he interviews, they’re all fascinating.
How can our readers follow you on social media?
Brand Instagram accounts: @loublack_thelabel & @acurrator
Personal Instagram account: @andrasandru
Originally published at medium.com